148. Gluttony

1. Gluttony is excess in eating and drinking. It is animmoderate indulgence in the delights of the palate. Gluttony istherefore inordinate, therefore unreasonable, therefore anevil.

2. Gluttony is usually not a serious sin, but it could besuch a sin. It would be a mortal sin in a person so given to thedelights of eating and drinking that he is ready to abandon virtue,and God himself, to obtain this pleasure.

3. Gluttony is a sin of the flesh, a carnal sin.Hence, in itself, it is not so great a sin as a spiritualsin or a sin of malice.

4. Gluttony denotes inordinate desire in eatingand drinking. It shows itself in the avidity with which a personindulges his appetite; in his love of delicate and expensive foods;in the importance he attaches to the discerning of fine qualitiesin foods, vintages, cookery; in voraciousness or greediness; ineating or drinking too much. St. Isidore (De Summ. Bon.ii) says that a gluttonous person is excessive in what, when,how, and how much he eats and drinks.

5. A capital sin is a source-sin; a spring, large orsmall, from whichflow many evil streams. Now gluttony leadsreadily to other sins, for it indulges pleasure of the flesh whichis the most alluring of all pleasures. Gluttony is, therefore, acapital sin.

6. Gluttony leads to inordinate fleshly delight, to dullness ofmind, to injudiciousness of speech, to levity of conduct, and touncleanness.

"A tree that is cultivated and guarded through the care of its owner produces its fruit at the expected time.
" St John of the Cross, OCD - Doctor of the Church

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"A single act of uniformity with the divine will suffices to make a saint." St Alphonsus de Liguori

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"The supreme perfection of man in this life is to be so united to God that all his soul with all its faculties and powers are so gathered into the Lord God that he becomes one spirit with him, and remembers nothing except God, is aware of and recognises nothing but God, but with all his desires unified by the joy of love, he rests contentedly in the enjoyment of his Maker alone." St Albert the Great